George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm and many novels, once said that, "Society has always seemed to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice." William Golding's 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, exemplifies this statement. A large group of English schoolboys find themselves on a deserted tropical island after their plane plummets from the sky. The boys build a society that, while primitive holds many characteristics of today's societies. Golding uses the whole situation to showcase the malicious nature in mankind. In this story, Golding integrates his basic philosophy that society is inherently evil. This philosophy can be espied in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph is fervently hunted.

Throughout the story Simon is the only counterbalance to the overwhelming evil. With Simon's death comes the loss of the voice of reason. "The circle became a horseshoe.

A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain. The beast stumbled into the horseshoe. 'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'" (Golding 141). In this quote, a figure crawls out of the forest and the ring of boys opens to let the figure inside. Thought to be the beast by Jack's tribe, Simon is brutally beaten to death. After the Simon's beating, the group disbands for shelter from the storm. As the storm subsides and the tides move in and out, Simon's body is washed to sea. The boys become hysterical because of the storm, the darkness, and fear. Their actions are accounted purely on savage impulses, for they do not know of what they are doing. Evidence of this is that the boys do not take a...

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4 pages7May/20063.0

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